This week I watched a program called “What the bleep do we know?” it has poked my “need to chew this over” button. It is full of scientists, psychologists and doctors of this and that working in various fields, but it is basically a new age film about how we all make our own lives and its all down to Quantum physics, as you would imagine it sets one thinking.
On the whole I would not disagree with much of the content as it is based on the one piece of information that has been a consistent part of my belief system for many years, that is that there is nothing solid, everything is vibrating energy. This means that anything, absolutely anything is possible even probable and that everything is connected. But, and for me it is a big but, there was a basic premise threaded through the whole film that rankled with me, that is the idea that our lives are only created moment to moment by the thoughts that we, as individuals, put out into the energetic potential. So if you think bad thoughts it means bad things will happen, i.e. you get ill, you grow old, your life gets messed up….etc it is all down to your way of thinking, they even subtly imply that you could live forever if you get your thoughts right and never, ever have to have a bad thing happen to you, ever.
Now while to a large degree it is true that a good state of mind alters health, mental well being and how you attract things into your life, I don’t see how it can be stated that the individual is unaffected by all of the other individuals (and for me the individuals include everything that exists from a blade of grass to the cosmos) doing the same thing you are, isn’t that just a bit silly? And the idea that you can go through life and not ever have to deal with anything negative, really?
Surely it is how you deal with the negatives in your life that help you to grow as a person and help make better more informed choices for yourself and the world in which you live? Have they understood cause and effect, the chaos theory…..butterflies and tornados etc… properly? To imagine that the individual is autonomous, living in a unique and moment by moment existence that they alone create, yet all is connected is a conflicting message to me.
But enough ranting about new age theories mixed with science and a bit of omnipresent being to keep the majority happy, if I truly believe that anything and everything is possible…I have to concede they have a chance of being right somewhere too!
Anyhow the more I hear about quantum theory and many other scientific theories around at the moment, it seems to me that they are just giving a new jargon to what the ancients were saying all along. For instance the Anglo Saxons had a belief structure that they called the ‘Wyrd’, which put in a very tiny nutshell, is the understanding that all things are connected, past, present and future all affect each other. The individual is part of the whole and how they behave reflects not only in their own present environment, family and tribe, but also affects their descendants lives and luck. It is like a great multidimensional tapestry being woven from everyone and everything’s threads, each individual part affecting the whole pattern, adding to the diversity and texture. There are aspects of fate within the concept, but not so fixed that our thoughts, actions and intentions can not affect outcomes, therefore we must presume a need for personal responsibility for said intentions, thoughts and actions.
If we look around the ancient texts we can find this is a familiar concept, the multidimensional universe was widely understood, agreed on and happily accepted in various forms pan-culturally. This all makes perfect sense to me and if I have to fall into any line of thinking it best suits my experience of the human existence so far, so Mr scientist nothing new to see here move along, next theory to prove the ancients correct again please!
I think that “The Bard’ (for all you ancient Britain scholars out there I mean Shakespeare not Taliesin this time) penned the most appropriate lines for this apparent world that we live in and I take leave to quote him as a finish to my odd and rambling rant……
Prospero:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
I was moved by spirit, and also the urgent need for something to read while I ate my lunch, so got the inspiration to check out your blog, Cerri. Didnt know you’d be blogging about wyrd, among other things! Loved your whole blog, and so agree about the annoying ignorance which often seems to sour the rightness of ‘we are what we think’ notions. As you eloquently said, yes, it’s true, but also it isn’t, and we need to be aware of the obvious polarities in life and accommodate them. You’ve lifted my whole day with this blog, let along brightened my lunchtime! Wyrd blessings, Brian x
Hello Brian
I am really happy that you liked my blog and thank you for your comments. I have to say that your book the “Way of Wyrd” came to me at the beginning of my conscious journey on this pagan path and put into words how I had always felt about the world and how we interact with it. I love it still and reread it periodically :o) Look forward to seeing you again at another camp maybe? :o)
brightest of blessings
Cerri :o)
You’re basically right but you haven’t taken the negative thing far enough in that things are only negative when one perceives them that way. Alternatively, one can be ‘evolved’ or enlightened enough to deal with them in the most appropriate, uplifting and honorable manner which can also be cathartic. It doesn’t mean one will enjoy a negative experience, but there is also, always a bigger picture.
Hi Robin, Thank you for your comment :o) I do agree with the principle of your reply, but from personal experience it is hard to see that negative is only a perception when you are utterly immersed in the situation. Very often I have found it is only with the benefit of hindsight that we can weave that negative experience into our story as a positive affect on the whole.
I think that the muscle of evolved or enlightened responses has to be flexed and exercised over many experiences before we find ourselves able to take a more composed view whilst the event is happening all around us. This kind of implies we have to deal with a lot of stuff that makes us feel pretty unhappy in order to realise that in the end it will make us stronger, wiser and more able to ride out any situation in the sure knowledge that nothing lasts forever and that if we can keep a our feet firmly on the deck of our little boat on the stormy waves of emotion, all will be well in the end. :o)
Cerri :o)
i do check this site often as it is very good and informative and will look out for an answer!http://www.divulgaemail.com
looks wonderfulhttp://www.kitsucesso.com